In the Shadows (The Outsiders Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

eyebrows a fraction, then nodded. “I heard you’ve been seeing Simone. How’s that going?”
    Dave shrugged again.
    “She’s certainly taken with you.”
    “Have you and she ever been involved?”
    Jonas smiled, but instead of answering, he swirled the liquid in his glass. Finally, he said, “I’ll tell you about Simone after you tell me what happened with you and Connie.”
    Dave moved to stand up.
    “All right, I get it,” Jonas said. “You always were closed-mouthed”
    “Simone tells me you travel often. Paris, Orleans, Marseille, Lyon,” Dave said.
    “Yes, that’s one of the benefits. I’d go crazy if I w as stuck here all the time. But what happened with your job? I thought you were still on the police force, and then I hear you quit. What happened?”
    “I started writing.”
    “It takes time to build a writing career. How did you survive until the money started coming in?”
    “I did all right.”
    Jonas studied him, then shrugged and gave a smile. “Ah. If you’re staying in Reynier, I might be able to send a little something your way.”
    “Have you struck a gold mine with your business, then?”
    “You might say so.”
    After a few more minutes of idle talk, Dave excused himself and walked toward his grandmother’s house. His mood hadn’t improved much, and he still couldn’t believe he’d allowed the women to trick him. He’d sworn he would stay on guard, that he wouldn’t let anyone use him or manipulate him ever again. Had he been deluding himself?
    Why would his grandmother lie to him about dying? When he was a child, she’d occasionally been caught in a fib, usually by Grand-père. Nothing big. Nothing like this. Although he’d visited every summer throughout his childhood, he’d spent most of the time outside or playing in the caves—not conversing with his grandmother.
    He sighed. Did he really know her? For that matter, did he know any of these people? Maybe it wasn’t as lonely as Chicago, where you could live years in the same neighborhood without ever knowing your neighbors’ names. But it made him wonder, all the same, if he belonged in Reynier any more than he did in Chicago.
    He had almost called his parents in Missouri before he’d left for France, to tell them about the cancer. He’d hesitated because his mother hadn’t spoken to Grand-mère since she’d moved to the U.S. when Dave was a baby. His father was the one who’d arranged the summer visits. No one would tell Dave what had caused their falling out. When he would return and try to tell his mother about his trip, she would stop him. “I don’t want to know anything about my mother’s activities,” she would say. What had Grand-mère done to spark that kind of response?
    It had always bothered him that his family was split—as a kid, he’d compared his situation to that of his friend, Billy, whose divorced parents had shuffled him back and forth between them. If something terrible had passed between his mother and grandmother, shouldn’t he know what it was? What would his mother say about Grand-mère’s lying and subterfuge?
    He found Fabienne sitting on the sofa, her hair in disarray and her eyes slightly puffy. He sat down beside her and took a deep breath, then said softly, “How could you think that would work? It was only a matter of time before I would figure it out.”
    She turned away from him and didn’t answer.
    “Talk to me, please . You owe me a better explanation. Tell me what’s wrong. I’ll help you if I can.”
    Finally, she looked at him with sorrowful eyes that reminded him of himself as a boy, getting reprimanded by his dad. “Will you forgive me?”
    He put his arm around her and sighed. “You can’t lie to me again. Promise me that.”

CHAPTER THREE
    Three days later Dave found himself staring out the window again, only now he was not really looking at the scenery. Though he still loved the view, he was tired of it, tired of this place. On the surface, his